Folk Maritime, a leading Saudi maritime services company, announced Sunday the launch of a new liner service connecting the Red Sea’s Jeddah Islamic Port to Mundra and Nhava Sheva, two of the largest commercial ports in the western part of India.
The company, backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, will commence operations later in September with two vessels.
The services will strengthen trade ties by facilitating the movement of consumer cargo from India and products from Saudi Arabia, including petrochemicals, PTI reported, citing a company statement.
Folk Maritime’s new trade routes
In addition to deploying its vessel, Folk Maritime also signed a Vessel Sharing Agreement (VSA) with Oman’s Asayd, which will also deploy a vessel for the new route, the statement added.
Announcing the new India Redsea Service (IRS), Poul Hestbaek, Chief Executive Officer of Folk Maritime, said the new route would further enhance bilateral trade between Saudi Arabia and India.
“It will also contribute to the goals of Saudi Vision 2030 to establish the Kingdom as a global logistics hub by enhancing connectivity and maritime sector growth,” he said.
Hestbaek said the new route represents the growth in ‘friend-sourcing’ between Saudi Arabia and India and builds on the strong bilateral ties between the two countries.
Folk Maritime is one of the region’s emerging leaders in providing regional liner and feeder services.
The company started its official operations in the Red Sea with two liner services – one that connects the Kingdom’s Jeddah Islamic Port, Neom and Yanbu to the Red Sea ports Sokhna and Aqaba, and a second route offering service between Port Sudan and Jeddah Islamic Port.
The company plans to continue to enhance its fleet through its chartered tonnage and better serve its customers by offering increased coverage to more regional trades and wider access to global markets.
